Film-maker Greg Manahan in Gaza said "Missiles fell so close to us, it was a targeted assassination"
Photo by: JACK GUEZ

Two Irish citizens caught in the Israeli air strikes in Gaza have given firsthand accounts of their experience.

Irish filmmaker Greg Manahan told how missiles and bombs exploded around him in Gaza last week. The 45-year-old traveled to the Gaza strip from Egypt on Sunday November 11, and stayed in Khuzaa, a short distance from the Israeli border. The Dublin native was working on a documentary on the MV Saoirse aid vessel, which was attempting to deliver aid to Gaza.

“It got very uncomfortable from Wednesday afternoon onwards,” he said.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, he recounted a bomb blast last Wednesday evening in Khuzaa, the same night that Hamas's military leader Ahmed Jabari was killed.

"There were two really loud bangs outside," he said.

"The compression from it made my clothes shake. The second missile was so close the smoke came in to the property we were in. There was a compound behind the house that Israel later said was a storage area for missiles."

Manahan has since returned to Ireland.

According to Hamas officials, more than 100 people have died in the Gaza Strip in six days of violence, the BBC reports.

Cork native Gisela Schmidt–Martin is currently living and working in Gaza with the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

"The situation is intensifying here in the GazaStrip, with constant waves of Israeli airstrikes and fears of a ground invasion. Having visited Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, I can confirm that Palestinian civilians, including women and children, are bearing the brunt of these disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks.

“Israel is, once again, violating its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law. The international community must intervene to put an end to these attacks and defend the rights of the people of Gaza."

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) called on the Irish government to intervene.

“A morbid, but pertinent, fact is that more Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in Gaza in the last two days than Israelis have been killed by projectile fire fromGaza in the past three years,” said IPSC Spokesperson Freda Hughes.

“We ask the Irish government to call for an immediate end to the bombardment of Gaza and to take concrete steps to support this call.”

Film-maker Greg Manahan in Gaza."Missiles fell so close to us, it was a targeted assassination":